Racism or Is he BU?

[Shehz21]

Okay I am torn right now.
Not going to give too much details but basically this is what happened;
Bought a new phone on contract from a well renowned network yesterday but unfortunately the phone is faulty and we went back instore today to get it exchanged. Well within our rights to do this within 14 days but Manager was adamant we cannot change instore. DH said let's just cancel the contract and get a contract with O2 instead as they have similar deals going on anyways. So we then say we would just rather cancel the contract where again the Manager says he cannot do in store, to call customer services and do it over the phone. We go ahead and call customer services and they insist it CAN be done instore. The customer service assistant on the phone asks to speak to the manager to inform him that the cancellation can infact be done in store but in store Manager says he can't speak as he is busy atm(store quite empty and no one waiting). His tone starts getting sarcastic and he says 'I am speaking English to you, do you not understand?". At this point we are at a lack of words so we just walk out and call customer services again to lodge a complain against in store manager for having given us wrong information and still refusing to give us the service we requested for. Manager over the phone asks for details of the whole incident and DH mentions he felt humiliated because of the manager asking him whether he understand English. Manager over the phone says there is definitely a racial undertone to this comment.
Extra details.
DH is british mixed race.
Lived overseas for quite a lengthy time so no British accent but perfect english.

Would you say DH is being U with feeling like a target of racism? Should we take this forward?
Please be brutally honest with your opinions as I understand it's a sticky one.

It sounds more like he was just being really rude tbh.

Which company was this?!
This is outrageous.

Race motivated or not, manager is a bell end and I bet his staff hate him. Complain.

His tone starts getting sarcastic and he says 'I am speaking English to you, do you not understand?"

Wow. Yes you're not wrong to think this is racist tbh. Sorry you and your DH experienced this.

It sounds racist to me, tbh.

Yes, sounds racist. The type of racism that gets written off all too easily and often as "well, maybe it was just x...."

Absolutely racist

I’d complain no matter what, he’s a rude tosser and needs pulling up or bing put out on his arse.

I doubt racist but deliberately annoying

I think the manager was being a dick and I think you should definitely complain, but I don't think it's racist. He said it to both of you, correct? Are you white British?

I think even if the store manager didn’t intend it in a racist way, it can easily be construed as such so he should be pulled up anyway.

He sounds like a complete A hole but not necessarily racist. It's a line that's been used towards white British people just to kind of drive the point home of why are they not getting what I'm saying. Sounds like a right dick though, report him for his behaviour.

The manager made a visual judgement ( because your DH is mixed race) that your DH couldn't understand English. That is Racism. The bloke is a tosser , make a complaint suggesting that he needs to do equality and diversity training for a whole week until it sinks into his stinking head that comments like that are completely unacceptable

It is definitely racist to ask a non white person if they understand English. I would absolutely put in a complaint.

The manager made a visual judgement ( because your DH is mixed race) that your DH couldn't understand English
I disagree, he had already spoken to him, so knew he could speak English, so it wasn’t a presumption based on his looks.
Basically the same as saying ‘are you stupid?’
Of course he needs reporting because his behaviour was outrageous, regardless of whether or not it was racist. It was beyond rude no matter who it was said to

Really hard to tell if he was racist or just an absolute dickhead. I think if you were there you’d know, so if you feel this was the case you’re probably right.

Difficult to prove it was definitely racist (though saying that to someone who isn't white, it does come across as racist), but he was incredibly rude for someone who works in customer service. I know we don't have all the details, and only your side of the story (I'm not saying you're lying by any means, just I work in retail, and my customer service department get things wrong, which is frustrating when we have customers then having a go at us), but I think you should follow it up. The only thing I'd say, is it's your word against the managers, so it may not go very far. Unless you can prove anything? It's certainly not the way you should be spoken to

I don't think he actually meant it as racism more just implying he was stupid, of course its possible but that's the impression I get. I think he was just a rude, sarcastic and lazy arsehole who likely would have said that to anyone and he deserves to be reported

Racist or not he was incredibly rude and I would take this as far as possible.

I don’t think it was meant as a racist comment, more as a ‘you’re not understanding what I’m saying’ passive aggressive type statement.

Regardless though he’s bang out of order. Definitely make a complaint about him, but I wouldn’t ever assume that was racism.

Sounds racist. The fact that your DH has a non British accent as well as being mixed race makes this pretty obvious to me.

Of course its not racist its just rude, people often say “ dont you understand plain english” again rude but not racist

Thank you everyone for your opinions. Looks like the majority finds it racist, however everyone agrees he was a rude twat who deserves to get a right ol complaint lodged against him which I went ahead and did.
I still find it funny in this day and age for some people to actually come up with comments like this knowing fully it can land them into big trouble.